


The one box the Doctor is scared of

by Kail_lizuc



Series: A child, a box, and his babysitters [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Amy Pond is Good with Kids, Child Doctor (Doctor Who), Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Parents Amy Pond/Rory Williams, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rory Williams is Good with Kids, The Doctor has PTSD, amy pond is a good friend, rory williams is a good friend, the doctor has nightmares, those should be tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25415098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kail_lizuc/pseuds/Kail_lizuc
Summary: The Doctor has a nightmare about the Pandorica.Amy and Rory comfort him.
Relationships: Amy Pond/Rory Williams, Eleventh Doctor & Rory Williams, The Doctor & Amy Pond & Rory Williams, The Doctor & Amy Pond (Doctor Who)
Series: A child, a box, and his babysitters [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1840747
Comments: 8
Kudos: 57





	The one box the Doctor is scared of

_ “Please, listen to me!” _

_ He struggled against the bonds in his wrists to no avail, desperately trying and failing to think of a way to escape as he realized what they were about to do. _

_ “Total event collapse! Every sun will supernova at every moment in history. The whole universe will never have existed. Please, listen to me!” _

_ His voice cracked as he begged them, begged his enemies to reason. His eyes, already red and puffy with tears, jumped from face to face, pleading for a little bit of mercy just this once, yet finding none. _

_ “No! Please, listen to me! The TARDIS is exploding right now and I'm the only one who can stop it! Listen to me!” _

_ The walls closed before his eyes, encasing him inside the Pandorica. The ultimate trap, made by his enemies just to defeat him. _

_ A prison of his own making. _

_ “Please—!” _

He jolted awake, sweating and breathing heavily, a scream caught in his throat. He could hear his hearts beating a mile a minute as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. He was in his bedroom, on his bed, and the lights were on but thankfully dim, nothing like the restoration field from the Pandorica.

Against his will, a sob escaped from him, then another and the next, and it wasn’t long before he was full on crying.

It wasn’t often that the Doctor slept. Most of the times that Rory and Amy insisted he went to bed at a reasonable time (“You need proper sleep to grow up,” they’d insist, and he had learned fairly quickly that there was no opposing them when they used what he liked to call the  _ Parent Voice _ ) he would actually just sit around in his bedroom and do something as quietly as possible to make them believe he had fallen asleep. Sometimes he’d even sneak back to the control room or another of his ship’s various rooms once he was sure they had gone to bed.

He couldn’t help having more energy than them; he was not only an alien with a higher biology but a child too at that, and everybody knew children had practically infinite amounts of energy. So, he would play with his stuff, the TARDIS helpfully giving him activities to keep him busy for a few hours while the Ponds slept.

But even he had to rest sometime, and he… Well, he wasn’t particularly fond of sleeping since the Time War, given that half the time he would dream of Gallifrey or some previous companion and then be crushed by guilt the moment he woke up; or the other half he would downright have nightmares and wake up even worse.

Today was the latter, it seemed.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, crying his eyes out, but when the door opened and a figure he couldn’t quite make out through his tears stood there, he flinched.

“Hey,” the figure called softly, their red hair bouncing as they came closer and gently took him in their arms. “Shhh, it’s okay now. I’m here. Amy’s here,” she said, rubbing her hand up and down his back in a soothing motion.

Ah, the old girl must’ve woken her up. Bless her.

He buried his head in her chest as he cried, and Amy just kept whispering reassurances in his hair. He had no idea how long they stayed like that, but at some point his sobbing stopped and Morpheo took a hold of him again.

————————————————

“Is he asleep yet?” Rory asked from the doorway, voice hoarse with sleep, and Amy shifted her head slightly to look at him.

“Yes,” she mumbled, followed shortly by a yawn.

She looked back down at the small child in her arms, and couldn’t help but feel sad for him. Every few days, the TARDIS would wake them up and guide them to Theta’s room, where they would find the boy reduced to a mess of sobs and tears due to nightmares, and either Amy or Rory would have to reassure him until he fell back asleep.

It honestly broke their hearts. No child should have to deal with that, to wake up screaming and to fall asleep in fear of having another nightmare. Because even if Theta was nine hundred and some odd years, he was just that, a  _ child _ , and he shouldn’t have to go through this kind of thing. Amy just wished she knew how to help him properly.

Rory silently walked up to them and helped her lay the boy down on the bed without waking him.

“What time is it?” she asked, watching her husband pull the covers all the way up and tuck the ends slightly under Theta so he was properly covered.

“About seven thirty,” Rory said, after taking a look at the clock on the wall. “I guess we better get started on breakfast. Hopefully, he’ll stay like this for more than an hour today.”

He kissed the top of her head, then reached with a hand to gently move a few strands of hair from the boy’s face. He stared at his tear-stained yet relaxed face for another second, and quietly padded out of the room.

After a moment, she got up too, and with one last look to make sure Theta was still asleep, she softly closed the door and walked away.

————————————————

Rory had barely finished making breakfast when he heard soft footsteps coming from the hallway, and he looked up just in time to see Theta walk into the kitchen, absentmindedly rubbing an eye with his left hand.

His eyes were still a little puffy, but he looked definitely more cheerful than an hour ago.

“Morning,” Rory greeted, setting a cup of hot cocoa and two cups of tea on the kitchen table.

“Mornin’, Doctor,” his wife chirped too, spreading butter over a toast.

Theta flashed them a toothy smile, and sat down across from Amy, “Good morning, Roman, Amy!”

Rory rolled his eyes, “I have a name, you know.”

“Roranicus Pondicus?”

Theta blinked innocently. Rory heard Amy snicker. He stared blankly at the two of them.

“Just kidding!” the boy gave in, happily accepting the butter-covered toast Amy had handed him. “We all know your name’s Rory Pond.”

_ So much for Williams, huh? _

Theta’s smile suddenly dropped a bit, morphing into something almost melancholic.

“Thanks for getting me out,” he said, and sensing his friends’ confusion, he added, “From the Pandorica, I mean.”

Amy reached out to touch his arm in a silent reassurance, and Rory smiled softly at him.

“Anytime, Doctor.”


End file.
